Birth Of Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s)

On Friday, at sunrise, on the fifteenth day of the month of Sha’ban of the year 255 A.H, which coincided with the Christian calendar as July 29th of the year 869, the Last Promise of God Almighty, came in this world.


Janabe Hakimah Khatoon [aunt of Imam Hasan Askari(a.s)] narrates the following tradition as mentioned in Behaar aul Anwaar – Vol 52 :
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan Ibn ‘Ali (a.s) sent for me and said, “O aunt, have your iftār tonight with us. This is the night of mid-Sha‘bān and Allah, the High, will bring forth the Hujja on this night. He will be His Hujja on His earth.” Lady Hakīma says, I said to him, “And who is his mother?” “Narjis,” he said to me. “May Allah make me your ransom,” I said to him, “there is no sign in her.” “It is as I tell you,” he said. Lady Hakīma says, I came and when I greeted and sat, she came to take off my shoes and said, “My lady, how are you this evening?” “Rather,you are my lady,” said I, “and the lady of my household.” She turned my word down and said, “What is this, dear aunt?” “My dear daughter, Allah, the Exalted, will grant you in this night of yours a boy, a master in this world and in the hereafter.” She sat and felt shy. When I finished the ‘ishā’ prayers and had iftār, I went to bed and slept. When it was in the middle of the night, I got up to perform prayers. I finished my prayers and she was sleeping and there was no sign of any kind in her. I sat saying the ta‘qībāt[2], then I went to the bed, and then I woke up suddenly. She was still asleep. She then woke up and rose and performed prayers.

Lady Hakīma says, As doubts came to me, Abu Muhammad (a.s) called out, “Do not haste, aunt, the affair has come near.” I recited the Sūras Alam Sajda and Yāsīn. And as I was doing that, she woke up suddenly; I rushed towards her and read the name of Allah on her and then asked, “Do you feel anything?” “Yes, aunt,” she said. “Pull yourself together and gather your heart,” I told her. “It will be as I told you.” Lady Hakīma said, And then faintness overwhelmed me as parturition seized her. I woke up by sensing my Master, (a.s); I removed the sheet from him, and there he was, prostrating touching the earth with his forehead and palms and knees and toes; I pulled him to myself and there he was, pure and clean. Abu Muhammad (a.s) called on me, “Bring my son to me, Aunt.” I took his son to him. He put his hands under his thighs and back and put the infant’s feet on his chest. He then put his tongue in his mouth and touched his eyes, ears, and joints with his hands. “My son, talk,” he said then.

The baby said, “I bear witness that a deity other than Allah, the One without a partner, is not; and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger.” He then beseeched blessings for the Prince of the Believers and the Imams until he reached at his father and then respectfully stopped.

Abu Muhammad (a.s) said, “Aunt, take him to his mother so he may give her greetings and then bring him to me.” I took her to his mother and he greeted her. Then I brought him back and put him in the sitting room. He then said, “Aunt, when it is the seventh day, come to us.”

Lady Hakīma says, In the morning, I came to offer my greetings to Abu Muhammad (a.s). I removed the curtain looking for my Master. Not seeing him, I asked his father, “May I be your ransom, where is my Master?”

He said, “We entrusted him to the one that mother of Moses had entrusted Moses to.” When it was the seventh day, I came and greeted and sat. He said, “Bring to me my son.” I brought my Master in a wrap. He acted towards his son in the same way he had acted the fist time. Then he put his tongue into his mouth; seemed as if he was feeding him milk or honey. Then he said, “Talk O’ my son.”

The blessed infant said, “I bear witness that a deity other than Allah is not.” He then praised and beseeched blessings for Muhammad and ‘Ali, the Prince of the Believers, and every one of the Imams, blessings of Allah be upon all of them, until his father. He then recited this verse, “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate; And we desire to confer kindness upon those who have been enfeebled on earth and make them Imams and make them heirs and give them power on earth and show Pharaoh and Hāmān and their armies from them what they have been averting.”

Athar